Review: Star Wars: Purge by John Ostrander, Alexander Freed, et al.

Comic trade paperback, 124 pages
Published 2013 (contents: 2005-13)
Acquired August 2014 
Read December 2018

Star Wars: Purge

Script: John Ostrander, Haden Blackman, Alexander Freed

Art: Douglas Wheatley, Jim Hall and Alex Lei & Mark McKenna, Chris Scalf, Marco Castiello & Andrea Chella

Colors: Ronda Pattison, Michael Atiyeh
Lettering: Michael David Thomas, Michael Heisler

The contents of this collection-- five issues published across seven years-- overlap chronologically with that of Dark Times, so I read it alongside it. It's okay, but not great, but I doubt it could be great: a series of one-shots about Darth Vader hunting down Jedi after Revenge of the Sith can pretty much only go one way again and again. In each story, some minor Jedi character challenges Vader. Usually, the character has appeared in two previous issues since 1999, or perhaps they've never appeared anywhere before at all. Guess what? They go down. Hard.

Obviously most of the stories are trying to give us emotional insight into Vader after his fall, but there's not a lot to give: Vader is angry, even more so than Palpatine wants. Well, sure. The best story in this regard is the third, "The Hidden Blade" by Haden Blackman and Chris Scalf, where Vader's anger actually causes some conflict, getting in the way of his mission. I also liked the final story, "The Tyrant's Fist" by Alexander Freed, Marco Castiello, and Andrea Chella, because a lot of it was told from the perspective of a young Imperial officer, using her to show how the galaxy is adapting to the lack of the Jedi, as they have to be eradicated not just physically, but from the hearts and minds of the people. So a couple decent stories, a couple okay ones. You could do worse, but most of the people involved in this have done better.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part V: Sensei & Student

Comic trade paperback, n.pag.
Published 2004 (contents: 2004)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2013

Birds of Prey: Sensei & Student

Writer: Gail Simone
Pencillers: Ed Benes, Michael Golden, Joe Bennett, Cliff Richards
Inkers: Alex Lei, Ed Benes, Ruy Jose, Mike Manley, Scott Hanna, Michael Golden
Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Nick Napolitano

This cover indicates that Greg Land isn't even trying anymore; he'll just trace any old woman if they vaguely match what he's going for.

After the very Gotham-focused Of Like Minds, Sensei & Student sees a return to the globe-trotting antics of Chuck Dixon's Birds of Prey stories, though there are no third-world dictators here. Dinah "Black Canary" Lance travels to Hong Kong to pay homage to a dying master who trained her... only to discover that the assassin Lady Shiva was trained by the same master. (The two characters previously appeared together in Green Arrow Annual #1 back in 1989, though there was no such link between them then.) Black Canary and Lady Shiva must team up to find their sensei's killer-- which eventually brings them into contact with Cheshire, the supervillain Dinah once stranded in the distant past. This means lots of opportunities for Ed Benes to drawn cheesecake, of course, but it also means lots of opportunities for fun banter and interplay; the airplane flight is definitely the best part.

Meanwhile, in Gotham, Oracle and the Huntress are looking into a senator who appeared at the end of the previous volume, in a storyline whose complications and rationales always remained a little obscure to me. Also, they improbably conveniently dovetail with both Oracle's Hong Kong plot and a case never solved by the first Black Canary, which we get to see in flashback. (Which was awesome; I love any and all versions of the Black Canary, and the art on this story was certainly the best in the book.) There's some pretty creepy stuff when Oracle gets hacked, and then she gets captured (I feel like this happens a lot). In the end, the heroines win, of course, in a blockbuster final battle. Fun, if not entirely coherent.

The final issue takes a break from the superhero hijinks to show the Birds relaxing; I'd've found this a lot more charming if the art wasn't so anatomically distorted and just plain awkward. (The previous volume was 100% Ed Benes on pencils; this volume sees a number of fill-in artists, which shows that though I might not like Benes cheesecake, other people's cheesecake is a whole lot worse.) I'm not sure what I think of the ending of the plotline about Huntress and the guy who won a date from her. On one hand, she can sleep with whoever she wants. On another hand, this guy is pretty skeevy! On the final hand, it's hard to imagine Batman in this plotline, at least quite this way. The final page is excellent, though; probably the best in the whole book.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part IV: Of Like Minds

Comic trade paperback, 143 pages
Published 2004 (contents: 2003-04)
Borrowed from the library
Read January 2013

Birds of Prey: Of Like Minds

Writer: Gail Simone
Penciller: Ed Benes
Inkers: Alex Lei with Rob Lea
Letterers: John E. Workman, Rob Leigh, Jared K. Fletcher

The cover of this one made me feel a little skeevy when I picked it up from the library-- only one button, Oracle? a "belly window," Huntress?-- but this is the start of Gail Simone's celebrated run on Birds of Prey. For most of the story, Black Canary is captured and seemingly under threat of torture, an interesting contrast to what happened to her at the beginning of Mike Grell's Green Arrow run in The Longbow Hunters. That torture removed her sonic cry, destroyed her ability to have children, and caused her to largely abandon her crime-fighting career. And, of course, she was utterly dependent on Green Arrow to rescue her. (Though what's not often mentioned is that in the prelude to The Black Arrow Saga a couple years later, Green Arrow was just as badly tortured, and rescued by Black Canary in an amazing example of sheer ass-kicking.) The torture her serves as a rebirth of sorts for Black Canary: she remasters her sonic cry, and she's rescued not by her boyfriend, but by her new best friends, Oracle and the Huntress, working together as they've never done before-- not to mention Canary's own quick thinking. It's an effective way to signal the beginning of a new era.

Otherwise, this is a serviceable but unremarkable superhero story, involving captures, double-bluffs, escapes, and lots of fighting. The best part of it is Simone's grasp of the characters; she ably picks up the ball from Chuck Dixon and carries on the development of Dinah and Barbara, adding Helena into the mix as well. There are a lot of great moments: Helena saving a baby, Dinah having to cope with a wheelchair of her own, Barbara's battle of wits with Savant.

If only Ed Benes didn't feel compelled to show off all the female characters' butts and boobs at every opportunity. Are you fifteen, dude? What is this supposed to be in aid of? I also miss the Black Canary costume introduced at the beginning of Dixon's run; I'm not sure where it went in the gap between Old Friends, New Enemies and this story. Benes also draws Dinah a little too young; especially with that haircut, she looks like she's 20 years old, when in fact she's a few years older than Barbara. On the other hand, I think he gets Barbara down perfectly, and he's pretty adept with facial expressions, which is important when you have a largely immobile character!